While on a trip to visit Temple University in Philadelphia last Friday, I was invited to attend a special screening to view clips from “Bee Movie” by THA Publicity and DreamWorks Animation. An event like a movie premiere or screening might seem exciting, but to tell you the truth, it was a little annoying.

I arrived nearly an hour early at the small theater in Philadelphia, and the lobby slowly began to fill up with some of the most irritating members of the press and movie industry. The reason I say “movie industry” rather than “film industry” is due to the fact that motion pictures that offer some kind of artistic taste or sophistication are likely to be regarded as films. The reasoning behind this goes back to the days before just any one person could make a motion picture, when you had to have money and the respect of professionals in the field so you could afford to shoot on film, get it developed, edited, and released. I’m doing my best not to sound arrogant.

Why these people at this little premiere can be regarded as part of the movie industry is this: A young woman standing behind me asked her friend “What’s Seinfeld?” Jerry Seinfeld, the writer of the screenplay and lead voiceover of the main character in “Bee Movie,” would be present at that screening not long from now and I almost gagged when I heard the question. There is only one possible explanation as to why this young woman did not know about Seinfeld. She was raised in Antarctica by anti-Semitic Emperor Penguins that she probably mistook for industry professionals like the waddling, late Orson Welles or Marlon Brando, wearing tuxedos.

I suffered exposure to the conversations of people who in the 1980’s would only be regarded as yuppies, and who would only be employed by E! Finally, the audience was ushered into the theater. Print movie reviewers and critics gathered in their corners while the search engine “mommy” reviewers sat alone with their pens and paper. I, unfortunately, stationed myself in front of a woman who was possibly a third cousin twice removed of one of the 207 animation artists, talking to her friend about how proud she was that her son held a cable for a microphone while they rehearsed an episode of “Scrubs” a few years ago.

When Jerry Seinfeld did arrive with the co-directors, the British Simon J. Smith and the grown-up Howdy-Doody, Steve Hickner, I began to enjoy myself.

Jerry Seinfeld opened up with a quick Q & A, as audience members asked him questions that were surprisingly relevant to the movie, “How do you manage your time now hosting “America’s Got Talent and your old morning show?” and “This is a kids’ movie, right?”

I was impressed by the half hour of clips they showed us from “Bee Movie.” Since Seinfeld wrote and stars in the film, the dialog and his voice were surprisingly refreshing, humorous, and can easily be compared to the classic show of the 1990s. Two weeks before the Nov. 2 release of the film, NBC will release 22 minutes worth of staged behind-the-scenes skits that were also previewed at the screening.

Why I will continue to attend movie premiers and screenings I’m not entirely sure. The movie may be good and I may meet some interesting characters or it can unfold in a completely opposite manner. However, I don’t think I really need a reason; a movie screening is a movie screening!